Bloodstone
by Monkey Typewriter
Summary: Bloodstone has a pretty odd life. The first part-gem to ever exist, he is accepted with open arms by the Gems, but allowed on few missions for fear of his safety. But what kind of Guardian of Humanity sits on the sidelines? He decides that it doesn't matter if there's a chance he won't live, and decides to help, on his own. Story about an OC of mine Bloodstone, starts before show.
1. Dance Dance Resolution

**AN: This is an OC story, mainly about my OC, and featuring many characters and areas from Steven Universe, the show. So… uh… yeah. That. Please enjoy, and I will try to make this work within the framework of the show, though incongruities between my writing and Ms. Rebecca Sugar's are inevitable. So… Obligatory Disclaimer!**

**I do not own Steven Universe, or any of its characters. My sole creations within this text are Bloodstone, my own OC, as well as the situations, plot devices, Gem Beasts (only those that do not and have not appeared in the show), and ideas on certain gem powers. (Though, not all of them in this FF are mine. Most, such as fusing and transforming, are already created by the incredibly talented writer, funny person, and musically gifted female designated as Rebecca Sugar)**

**Please enjoy! Because if you don't…**

**_THEY'LL NEVER FIND THE BODY._**

**And here's the fic you've been waiting through my virtual rambling for. Thanks for that, by the way. It really means a lo-**

**ON WITH THE STORY!**

"I finally won!" I shout, pumping a fist in the air. "In your face!" I jab a finger at Amethyst, and she rolls her eyes. I gaze at the beautiful, amazing score of mine on the brand-spanking-new DDR machine in the arcade, 204,300. Just enough to beat Amethyst's 203,800 and then some. Perfection.

"Quit showing off," she tells me. "You're just going to embarrass yourself when you lose next time."

"Oh, no no no!" I grin a little madly, waggling a finger in the shorter Gem's face. "With all the flak you give me when I lose, there's no way I'm passing up a chance to gloat." I start doing an 'in your face' dance, before falling backwards and sucking in a huge breath of air. I immediately lose all of my energy, and feel like taking a huge nap.

"No energy," I gasp, "Need magic. And food. Mostly food."

"You cheater!" Amethyst shouts, throwing me over her shoulder, and starting her way out of the Arcade, and onto the Beach Town Boardwalk. "You burned magic to speed yourself up!" She sounds mad for a second, but I know it'll be short lived. "I'm impressed." There we go, she's not angry any more.

"Yeah, I figured out I could do that a few days ago," I mutter, trying to keep my dignity intact. Being thrown over the shoulder of someone barely over half your height can be embarrassing. And a bit emasculating. The fact that she's a thousand or so year old magical warrior didn't change the fact that this will be a point of teasing for many weeks to come.

"Still, your win doesn't count," Amethyst tells me. "You cheated. I win by default."

"Don't pull that," I say, a hint of annoyance in my voice. I manage to lift my head just enough to glare at her knees. They probably feel just awful. "I saw you transforming extra dancing limbs to hit the pads." She hops down from the boardwalk. Shortly after we land, her shoulders come up, and drop without me. I'm lifted up a few inches, and drop back down again. It takes me a moment to realize that she's shrugging.

"Yeah, well, I only cheated because you did, so I still win." She's dropped me from her shoulders now, and is dragging me across the sand by my feet, one of my green jean clad legs in the air, the other dragging through the sand.

The rest of my clothes, my red shirt, black vest, and shoes are also all being filled up with sand, but I can't quite see them now, paralyzed by fatigue as I am.

"Nuh-uh," I grunt, trying to ignore the fact that I'll be shoveling sand from my clothes for weeks. "I cheated better. Plus I had more style."

"You _SO_ did not."

"Doing crazy legs with six legs isn't stylish. It's just creepy. Plus, you challenged _me_ to the DDR machine, so in the event of a tie, the challenged wins by default."

"Ugh, you sound like Pearl," she groans, as she begins to painfully drag me up the stairs to the Crystal Temple, my limp body, and especially my head, hitting about every one of them.

"Easy!" _Thump._ "Precious cargo!"_ Thump. _"Seriously!? I can't-" _Thump._ "Believe you're doing-" _Thump._ "This! Well," _Thump._ "Considering it's-" _Thump. _"You, I can." _Thump._ "Seriously! Handle with-" _Thump._ "Care!" _Thump._ "Fine, I-" _Thump._ "Aghh! Bid muh thongue!"

"Sorry, What was that?" She pauses on the stairs, giving me an innocent look, and I simply glare at her with all the venom I can muster. "Huh. Could have sworn you were talking. Oh well." _Thump… Thump… Thump…_

Several thumps later, she drags me through the threshold of the small beach house that Rose and Amethyst had insisted upon, in order to maintain relations with the humans of Beach Town for Rose, and for Amethyst... a whole new place to mess up, I guess? Sometimes, it's so hard to get into her head.

Plus, it made a nice place for me to stay, when I take enough time off from my search to come by. That one area upstairs is perfect for me, especially since I don't exactly have a room that my Gem can open, because it's incomplete and all that, and I'm a few hundred years late to the party, when it comes to getting a room in a millennia old temple. And the Gems aren't big on altering the design of millennia old anythings. We had to build the house _around_ the temple.

Amethyst yells out, "Pearl, Stone needs a recharge!" I smile. I like the nick-name. It kind of captures the fact that I don't quite have a full Gem, and it's a lot less clunky of a name than 'Bloodstone.' A lot less scary, too.

There's no response, except for Garnet walking into the beach house from her room in the temple, and stretching out her arms, stalking towards the warp pad with a purpose in her step.

"Spare magic, ma'am?" I call out weakly, in a joking voice. She glances down at me, and then fixes Amethyst in her sun-glassed gaze. Her voice is perfectly even when she talks, not giving away any of her emotion. Admittedly, I envy Garnet's absolute control. She only loses her sense of reserved…ness… when one of the team gets hurt, or something similarly shocking/emotionally jarring happens.

"I warned you not to let him go overboard, Amethyst." There's no disappointment in her voice… but I can practically feel it coming off of her anyway.

"You told me the same thing about Amethyst," I protest. "We both got a little out of control, it's not fair that she's in trouble or whatever because I got careless."

Garnet is glaring at me now. Now, I _say_ glaring, but that's really just an assumption. I have no idea what any of her three eyes are doing right now. She could be winking, trying to let me in on an inside joke, for all I know. Well, actually, I know Garnet. She doesn't wink. I can say that definitively. "You know what can happen if you use up all of your magic."

"Yeah," I sigh, "My Gem will try to eat my life force, to try to rebalance itself after my Mom caused its cataclysm, and it'll kill me by trying to fix me into a _real_ Gem, using up all of my energy until there's nothing left, blah blah blah, Pearl's fed me that speech a million times." I try not to let anger seep into my voice at the mention of my mom, and I _almost_ succeed.

"Then hearing it again wouldn't hurt you, if you're so dismissive." She pauses, and though her features don't change, her tone softens marginally. If I didn't know Garnet, the most solid, rock-hard person you'll ever meet, I probably wouldn't have noticed the slight change. "And Stone," I lift my head to look up at the woman (with a herculean effort), managing to make a boxy afro and sunglasses look intimidating, rather than silly. "You are a real Gem."

I offer a smile in thanks before dropping my head back to the hard wooden floor, groaning a little at the compounded pain of Amethyst 'helping' me up the stairs and this most recent 'ouch' inducing sensation. Not having a complete Gem… it's a source of some insecurity, to be honest, and being the youngest on the team doesn't help me much either. But what really sucks is the regular-speed healing.

"Amethyst," she says without looking back at us, her tone rock hard again, walking to the warp pad. "You're going to be giving him some magic." Then she steps onto the pad, disappearing in a cylinder of blue, streaking light, leaving no room for argument.

"Ugh!' Amethyst grumbles, tossing her head back in annoyance and letting go of my leg. She walks to my side, and offers me her right arm. I grab her hand with my right, and the contact of her skin with my Gem immediately starts the process, my Gem shining brightly even through our clasped hands, red and green slits of light painting the ceiling and floor. I feel some of her magic flowing into me, and I smile as strength returns to my body.

I fight the urge to keep draining, the look on Amethyst's face being one of mild pain, or discomfort. It takes a bit of mental focus, but I manage to stop taking from her, even though my Gem is touching her, and the light fades. She pulls me to my feet easily, and I stretch. "So," I smile down at her, "Want to go on a mission while Pearl isn't around to tell us not to?"

Amethyst shrugs, then yawns. "I'd rather nap. Being a real-live guardian of humanity is hard work." She continues in a teasing voice, "Don't worry about it, nothing you'd know about." My smile immediately sours as she walks off to nap. I know that she's joking, and didn't mean anything by it. She didn't mean to make me feel worse.

That's what my vast, ever-present insecurities are for.

_She's right. I'm not a Real Gem, not a real Guardian. Without the Gems around, to support me, I'd die within a month of magical starvation. Without them, I'm nothing. Without me, they're exactly the same as they were, but short one leech._

I shake my head, stalking to the fridge, and pulling out a box of cereal. Pearl still doesn't completely understand what to do with which foods. Probably because she never really bothers with it, except to get some for me.

I pour myself a bowl, pull the (thankfully still cold) milk out of the pantry, and sit down for a second breakfast, (But this time, for LUNCH!) of much self doubt.

_I mean, they hardly even take me on missions. Amethyst always votes for me to go, because she wants to goof around with me more often, but not because she thinks I'd be helpful. Rose tries to give me a chance on the less dangerous ones, but how am I going to prove to them, or me, how I can be useful on the simple, 'Go to A, Get through B, Return with C' , missions?_

_Garnet's the same way, if only because she wants me to learn more before I help for real. And Pearl? She thinks if I go on any mission, I'll die as soon as we step off of the Warp Pad. And, with no guarantee of regenerating, I don't blame her._ I snort. _Thanks, mom. Way to half-bake a kid._

I find the cereal bowl empty of flakes, and begin chugging the milk still in the bowl. After I'm done, I set the bowl in the sink to be somebody else's problem later. Even though Pearl will probably insist that whoever made the mess clean it. I walk up to the paper taped to the pantry, and glumly look at the list of missions that Garnet has set out for everyone to do, in her own blocky yet graceful handwriting, (in red ink, of course) and the various checks beside them, all from the different Gems. I started reading right before the few at the bottom of the list that hadn't been done yet.

'Retrieve Sacred Earth Emerald from the Green Cove,' done, and judging by the red check beside it, by Garnet herself.

'Defeat and Bubble Gem Beast ravaging the ruined Sea Spire,' finished, and a pink, gracefully flowing check for Rose.

'Destroy the damaged Temple of Diamonds before it can send out more harmful waves of magical radiation,' Garnet again.

_They're all doing so much for everyone. And what have I done? Been on a few missions, where they just held my hand, and tried to keep me from screwing up too badly._

The next few all seem pretty straightforward, and I tell myself that I could have done them no sweat. But something stops me from grabbing the magic pen hanging beside the job sheet and signing up for one of the uncompleted ones. Maybe because they all seem like the simple, easy ones that I've already tried, and hate so intensely. That doing them would prove absolutely nothing.

And then there's the last one on the list.

'Defeat and Bubble Giant Topaz Bear in Northern Canada. Fusion Gem recommended.'

_Whoa. If _Garnet_ thinks they should use a Fusion, it must be tough._ I look at my palm, the shifting red and green surface of the Bloodstone staring back at me. There's hardly any red though. I'm maybe at 10% energy right now. _Get real,_ I tell myself, shaking my head. _Even at full power, this Gem Bear would crush you like a bug if a _fusion_ is needed._

_Well…_ I think to myself, leaning against the nearby counter. _Not needed. Just recommended. That means a regular Gem _could_ win, if-_

_If nothing. You're NOT a regular Gem. You can't even make your own magic, you-_

"Drain magical beings," I say to myself, in a considering tone, with a vague, _very _vague, _exceedingly_ vague plan taking shape in my mind. Without even thinking of the details, I turn to the pantry again, grab the pen, and sign a hasty, scribbled check next to the bear mission, composed of an ink of shifting colors, dark green, and bright red, and all of the colors in between shifting in and out of focus.

"Alright," I gulp to myself, realizing the repercussions of what I just did. "Let's do this thing."

**First thing first. SUPER proud of that 'rock hard' pun I threw into the Stone, Garnet, Amethyst interaction. Get it? Because they all have precious stones, aka rocks, as a part of their bod-**

**You get it. I shouldn't be this proud, but I am.**

**Second thing, No, Rose will not appear in my Fic. Pearl will. Rose won't because of plotting, it won't work, and also because I don't have nearly enough information to write her anywhere close to what her Character should be, as all I know about her is that she appreciates beauty in everything, and she's ****_probably_**** a really good, kind person with some cool HEALING POWERS. **

**Third thing, This should be the final-ish version of the chapter. Exciting, because I rewrote this like six times trying to get it perfect, so the rest of the story would flow easier than it does in some of my other Fics, which I'm trying to fix the quality of… eventually.**

**Side thing, Also, if you know about my Harry Potter story I'm planning on doing, YES, I ADMIT! I WAS WORKING ON THIS WHEN I SHOULD HAVE BEEN WORKING ON THAT! Sorry, but my interests when it comes to books, shows, and the like wax and wane. (hint for the Harry Potter Fic in the AN somewhere… you probably won't find it, I made it SUPER SUBTLE)**

**Final thing, FINALLY, I thank you for reading, and please review! I don't care if you like it, or what you liked in it, or if you hated parts or the whole thing, please tell me what was good and what was bad so I can improve!**


	2. Warping Time

I'm not dumb enough to go off on a deadly mission. Not _yet._ Not before I'm ready. I walk over to the door into the Temple, activated by an authorized Gem's magical output. For some reason, Garnet could never fully connect my Gem to the temple. The best she could do was to make the Temple recognize me, so it wouldn't try to obliterate me, should I ever enter it. The other Gems _still_ haven't let me in.

Maybe they won't let me in because I'm a guy, or they don't trust me with free reign in the Temple. Maybe the Temple wants to destroy me because I'm only half Gem. I can't be sure, these are just my best guesses. I lay my right hand on the door wistfully, and begin draining the temple itself of its magic, my Gem glowing hungrily with its light, slowly losing the green flash to it, the red intensifying and growing.

_If I'm going on an impossible mission, I at least want to be at my peak._ I feel a little guilty about draining something as old and huge as the Temple. Maybe because it was so elegant, back in its day. So commanding of respect. Or because it _still_ commands my respect whenever I spy the enormous, stone woman, even missing some arms as she is. I feel like a flea drinking blood from something awe-inspiring, like a majestic lion, or a noble eagle, or a beautiful horse. Like a worthless little pest.

I reassure myself that I need this energy more than a building that just sits there. _Besides, Garnet said it has a self-replenishing Magic Generator. The Crystal Heart. I've never drained the temple before, but it should be okay, right? It's so huge, it can't possibly miss what little I'm taking._

I'm at about half strength before I jump at the sound of the already asleep Amethyst's snorting particularly loud. _It's fine. She can't know. _I keep draining, sighing in relief as I hit max capacity. I shiver as a chill rushes down my spine, the feeling that if I absorb any more magic, I might just explode. I shake my hand as the solid-red glow in my palm fades into nothing.

_They can't be connected to the Temple or anything, that's-_

The door whips open, and I stumble backwards, a very angry Pearl glaring at me. She's a little taller than me, made taller by the immediate, guilty slouch I fall into, and she starts in on her rant. "How could you be so disrespectful as to drain the Temple!? Do you know how fragile the balance of the Temple's magic is? If you had drained it any further, it could have detonated, destroying it, us, and all of Beach Town!"

I rub the back of my neck in shame as she begins her pacing routine, while Amethyst's snoring intensifies from the couch. _She stole my napping place again,_ I think, trying to distract myself from the trouble I'm in.

"How could you be so inconsiderate Bloodstone?" Unlike the others, Pearl never called me Stone. She's too formal for that. Or is it too motherly? Well, she certainly doesn't act like _my_ mom, so that's at least thirty steps in the right direction. "You're seventeen, Bloodstone. You need to _think_ before you act." She closes her eyes, turning away from me. Facing straight towards the kitchen. Looking _right_ near the _pantry._

"Honestly Bloodstone," she tilts her head back, rubbing her eyes with one hand in a tired, annoyed fashion. "Sometimes you're like a second Amethyst. So impulsive."

I rush in front of her, desperate to stay between her and the job-list. She opens her eyes, and I try to give her my best apologetic smile. "Sorry, won't happen again!" I say, trying to keep the job list out of her view, (hard to do, since she's a little taller than me,) and sounding as sorry as I can, on a full tank of magic.

It's never easy, being calm, respectful, apologetic, angry, any of it… other than just _excited_, when I'm filled with magic. Whenever I'm full, I just feel… powerful. _Better._ I imagine it's almost like being a _full _Gem. But, regardless, I manage it well enough, so that Pearl simply sighs, pinches the bridge of her nose, and retreats back to the door to her room, and more importantly, the Temple, laying a hand on the door. I notice, with some alarm, that right where she's laying her hand, there's a small, perfectly round inlet in the stone, as if something perfectly round had burned a hole in the door.

I glance down at my glowing red gem with fear. _Did I really _hurt_ the _Temple_?_ I suddenly feel very guilty… dirty, like I just stole something. _Well_, I consider, _I guess that I did… It's not like I'm giving this energy back to the Temple later._ As soon as I see Pearl disappear, though, I stalk over to the round, blue Warp Pad. I stand on top, and briefly consider waking Amethyst, and asking for her help.

She'd probably say yes, too, just to spite Pearl, and her belief that I shouldn't go on missions. But then we'd _both_ be in trouble. Besides, the point of this exercise is to prove that I _don't_ need help, and that I'm perfectly good all on my own.

"Alright," I say, trying to psych myself up. "I can do this, I've got this. I just need to…" I trail off, as the Warp Pad begins to glow. _HIDE! GOTTA HIDE!_

I jump backwards, off of the pad, and hold my breath. Seconds later, Garnet appears amid a column of blue, streaking lights, holding a bubble with, what I assume to be, the heart of the Diamond Temple, steaming water dripping off of her onto the pad.

The 'Diamond Heart,' as it's called right now, by me, is a far cry from what I've imagined the Crystal Heart of our Temple looks like. It's smaller than what Pearl said our temple's is like, but it still has the characteristic veins, sticking out to release magic into its former magical receptors, or however it works. It's made of, (obviously,) pure Diamond, and I can see its every faceted structure through its outermost layer.

All I know, is it's a magic generator. It can power an entire TEMPLE at once. And it's liable to explode, if misused. Assuming it's just like ours, that is. I begin holding my breath, as Garnet walks over to the pantry, opens it, and pulls out a bottle of water. She pops the cap off of it, ignoring the convention where most people _twist_ the cap off, and pours it on top of her boxy afro.

Immediately steam is thrown into the air, so much that it begins to obscure my vision. _How hot _was_ the Diamond temple? Like… filled-with-lava hot?_ I shake my head, refocusing. "Now's my chance," I mutter, stepping forwards onto the warp-pad as quietly as I can.

And slipping in the enormous puddle of scalding hot water, screaming. I hear Garnet rush into the room, and my only thoughts, other than _PAIN,_ were of getting to Canada, and proving myself. The light humming of the pad begins, and I'm immediately floating, in a pocket dimension (or something like that) of blue, streaking lights.

I land in Canada, still writhing in pain, and shuddering with the cold. Immediately, I feel some heat from my Gem; the familiar, comforting burn of magic warming me, and slowly healing my burns.

I sit up, and then realize what I'm doing. It takes a moment, but I manage to shut off the flow of Magic. I need as much as I can get.

I stand up, summoning my weapon immediately. A four foot long bastard sword materializes in a flash of green and red, with a blood red blade and a dark green handle long enough to hold it two-handed, if I want, but with the blade just short enough so that using it one-handed is still practical.

I smile a little as the familiar weight pulls on my right arm. I raise it, grabbing it with my left hand, wincing at the sudden pain that causes in my recently scalded arm, and holding it defensively in front of me. I turn in a circle, examining the tall, thin pine trees with sparse branches, and the light dusting of snow on the mostly brown, gnarled ground that consisted of roots, dirt, and dead pine needles.

I shiver at the chill in the air, but there doesn't appear to be any immediate danger, so I lower my guard, resting my sword on my shoulder, and begin walking. My sparse training finally comes in handy; if you're not sure where your target is, spiral out from your place of origin to be sure you don't miss it.

Normally, the Warp Pads are close to the objective. But this time, because I'm after a Gem Creature, rather than a sacred whoozit in the whatever temple, it could be just about anywhere. So, while I internally complain and scream about the painful burns all over my back and left arm, I search, looking for the giant Gem Bear.

For some odd reason, I expected the giant, marauding monster to be easy to find. I guess I'm just wrong again.

I scan the woods around me once more, pausing to examine a large group of trees that seem to be stripped of their branches, bark, and needles on one side. And then I see the tracks. They're… pretty huge. I shudder for a moment, trying to figure out the size of the thing. _Each one's about three feet in diameter, meaning, if my proportions aren't totally off, the bear has got to be… like, around 40 feet long, give or take? That's assuming the paw prints of a normal bear are the same as a magical one, and the Gem Bear is proportionate._

"So, it could be smaller," I nervously laugh, looking over my shoulder, as if something that enormous could sneak up on me.

"Or…" I gulp, realizing it had, indeed, snuck up on me. I continue with a whimper in my voice, "It could be bigger… way, _way_ bigger."

**AN: This is a bit shorter than the last chapter, clocking in a bit under 2000 words. Still, though, I had to cut it short, in order to leave all of the major _ACTION_ for next chapter!**

**Feel free to boo and hiss in anger at my cliff-hanging. *Spreads arms for incoming tomatoes.***

**So, just going to say, have a good one everybody, feel free to drop a review/PM, and be sure to Favorite and Follow for more Steven Universe Action, as seen on TV! But… different… because I don't own it.**

**But still!**

**Alrighty, Good Luck, and Happy FanFic-ing!**

**Monkey Typewriter**


	3. Bleeding Gem

I'm already leaping straight upward as the massive paw comes down, and I find myself cursing in midair as it adjusts, faster than I can follow, bringing its other paw around to bat me out of the sky. It's all I can do to keep from impaling myself on my sword while I tumble through the air, with absolutely no control.

I scream, until I hit the ground. Then I groan, and roll onto my back, my gem glowing steadily as it fixes all the bruises and little fractures dotting my body. _USING MY LIMITED MAGIC SUPPLY._

I need to focus, to make sure it doesn't waste any magic on my minor wounds. I spare a glance at the gem in my palm, wincing when I shift my sword to my left hand. Judging by the growing flecks of green, I'm at like 90% or so, and dropping fast.

"Time to go ALL IN!" I yell, and I toss my sword up into the air, focusing on summoning another, a perfect copy of the first. I do it quickly enough, and holding the new one in my right hand, I catch the first in my left. If I had to guess, summoning my weapon, plus all the healing, brought me down to, like, 86%.

The enormous Gem Bear roars, snapping its jaws towards me. This time, I focus my magic into my body, raising my speed and strength to about the level that the Gems have. I roll out of the way of the mouth that could swallow me whole, stabbing my left sword into the mammoth nose.

I smirk as the sword itself begins glowing, and the Bear's magic starts flowing into my body. My smile disappears when the monster jerks its head towards me, hitting me with its enormous muzzle, and sending me into the air. It feels like I'm falling almost in slow motion this time. Not like I'm going through molasses, but more like I'm moving at a normal speed for hurtling through the air, but always with enough time to react to whatever happens.

I find myself rushing towards a tree, and shift my body in mid air so I land in a crouch on the side of the tree without any branches, bouncing off of the smooth surface and landing on the floor heavily, almost falling forward out of my crouch. I glance back to see the tree just now reacting to my impact, immediately falling backwards, its roots audibly snapping, and the tree itself snapping in half, top to bottom. I shiver, considering what would have happened if I hadn't reacted in time.

I stand up, and realize that my left handed sword is still stuck in the Bear's nose, and I finally get a look at the huge bear.

Its body is close to proportionate, everything seeming to scale, except for its somewhat dainty paws. Its small, misleadingly sized paws. Its legs are rather thin, as is the rest of its nearly-emaciated looking body, leaving me to wonder for a moment if maybe, instead of an oversized bear, it's a _REALLY_ oversized wolverine.

On its forehead, it has a big, blunt Gem protruding, looking like a rough approximation of a Rhino's horn. It's big, and clearly a Topaz color, while the bear's fur itself is a golden-looking orange. The bear's mouth is hanging open, and dripping with saliva, fangs hanging down from the top of its jaw, and shooting up out of the bottom in a silent threat.

Or, not so silent, as the bear lets loose another roar, tossing its head back. I drop my sword, forced to cover my ears as the ground itself shakes under me, in response to its rage at being 'stung,' I guess, by an insect like me. I stare in horror up at the bear as its simple roar brings me shuddering to my knees, and I struggle to contain an exclamation of pain as my ears feel ready to burst.

Then the roar cuts out, though the ground's vibration continues, and I fall forwards, hardly catching myself, feeling woozy. I try to stand in the strange, sudden silence, and I shake my head as I fall back to one knee. I feel something warm trailing down either side of my ear. I clumsily swipe at it with my right arm as I struggle to maintain my balance with my left.

I look at my fingers; blood. He blew up my _eardrums…_ by _roaring._

I glance back up at the bear, which seems bored now, lazily raising its paw to smash me. I guess I'm not enough of a challenge.

"Not a chance." I feel my lips form the words, slurring them ever so slightly, and focus my magic in my head. I feel my balance return, though the sound doesn't come back. It's like someone pulled the audio out from a TV, and I briefly wonder whether I'll ever be able to hear again. _Focus,_ I think, shaking my head again. _There's no point in worrying about it until you SURVIVE._

I grab the dropped sword from the ground, fluidly leaping to the side, my balance immediately returned, as the paw comes down. I feel the ground tremble ever so slightly as the muzzle of the bear draws back in a grimace; he's growling, I think.

"I'll give you something to growl about, Fluffy!" I scream, (I think) and dart forwards, running the blood across the same-colored blade of my sword, and then through my matching hair, shaggy and unkempt, despite only being a few inches long. Despite the circumstances, I can't help feel like the hero of an action movie.

I'm burning magic constantly just to remain fast enough to avoid his stomps and the snapping of his jaws, which decimate the landscape around me, and to summon a second sword. Finally, I get close enough. I leap onto the comparatively slender leg, still about as thick as a redwood tree, if only a fraction as tall at maybe 30 feet, and drive both blades deep enough to dig into it, and cause the world to shiver with Fluffy's rage. I smirk, now immune to his sonic attacks. I hope.

The two swords are glowing brightly, feeding magic into me, and replenishing all that I'd lost. I try to pull my right sword out, and begin climbing up by stabbing into his leg multiple times on the way up. 'Try,' because the swords are way too long to feasibly do that.

I smile wider as I come up with a variation of the idea, dropping the enhancements I was putting into my strength, and putting it all into my speed, and I begin summoning multiple swords, climbing up as I summoned them, handholds appearing in my 'Rock Wall,' while I climb. My speed is boosted so high that the Gem Bear feels like it's moving in slow motion; as it finally raises its front leg towards its mouth, I'm already about halfway up to its mouth.

Unfortunately, the swords' magical donations aren't quite making up for the magic I'm spending on creating them and maintaining my speed, and I'm flagging close to the top, my shoulders, arm, and back burning with fatigue, without the strength and stamina boost. I pause on its shoulder, and hang from one hand for a moment to check my Gem.

It's a good thing I've gotten so good at 'reading' its magical levels over the years, otherwise I might not know that the mostly green Bloodstone is practically out of power. I'm at maybe 12%, maximum, and dropping pretty fast, even with a constant flow of magic from my sword. I guess it can only drain so quickly.

I continue climbing, ignoring the fatigue and my heaving chest, and pull myself on top of the enormous bear's rather bony shoulder blade, and collapse for a moment, my left hand clutching a sword jammed into Fluffy's shoulder, and the Gem in my palm in direct contact with its furry hide, dropping my speed to drain the bear as efficiently as possible. I smile, already back up to about 20% or so.

The bear, probably magically sensitive, or having some kind of perfect animal intuition, or a close enough relationship with its environment or whatever, immediately knew something was different. Before, it had been too slow to lay any hit on me. Now, it knew that it could dominate me.

And it took advantage without hesitation. Immediately, I find the bear rearing back, and I'm tumbling, my grip on the sword too loose to keep me from falling, and any handfuls of fur I can grab during my fall simply come off, falling with me.

"NO!" I scream, while the ground rushes up at me. I try to orient myself to roll when I land, and force as much magic into my resilience as I can. I hit the ground shoulder first, rolling as best I can with the impact. Even so, I feel something break in my shoulder when I hit, and I scream, even though the only one who can actually _hear_ it is probably the bear, and whatever else is dumb enough to be present for the mostly one-sided battle.

I feel another stone-shattering roar, and this one, directed right at me, completely ignores the fact that I'm unable to hear, and bursts my eardrums again. This time, not distracted by the strangeness of losing an entire fifth of how I perceive the world, I feel the very distinct pop on either side of my head, one right after the other, and I howl at the pain pressing in on my head as I lose balance again, falling over as the world spins above me, unable to contain the pain assailing my head and shoulder.

My magic works furiously for a few moments to repair the damage, then immediately, almost without warning, ceases by itself, half-finished healing each of my injuries. The bear, standing angrily above me, snarls. I simply lay in place, knowing from the immediate, draining, full-body and soul fatigue running through me that I'm out of power.

"Well…" I manage, as Fluffy rears his head back for the final blow, "This is… pretty suckish." I inhale deeply, what could very well be my last breath, and look my coming end in the eyes. Its solid yellow, hungry eyes.

Until of course, Amethyst collides with his face, smoothly pulling the sword I had left in his nose out and throwing it down, so it impales itself in the ground beside me, at the same time summoning her whip, and tying the beast's mouth shut. Garnet leaps from out of nowhere, and begins beating on the enormous, horn-like Gem on its head, and the ground shakes as the beast whales in pain.

Agate, the Fusion of Rose and Pearl, huge in her own right, but only coming up to about a third of the height of Fluffy's leg, is stabbing at the bear's leg, aiming mostly for the leg I'd climbed and messed with earlier. Which, I just noticed, the bear is now favoring heavily, meaning I actually _hurt_ the thing.

The four-armed, thin, curvy woman with a long, frilly white dress has a grim look in her eye, and is bracing her shield with her two right arms, and brandishing her spear with her left, slashing and stabbing at the bear, and managing to drive the massive, dazed creature back… for now.

Garnet yells something to Amethyst, and immediately, she nods, tying her whip into a knot around the Gem Bear's mouth and leaping towards Garnet. Seconds later, the bear breaks the whip, roaring, and snaps at Amethyst, missing her by mere inches as she begins to do a dance in midair, Garnet dancing into her flight path, and springing into the air.

They collide, and turn into pure energy, their physical forms adjusting to their new mind as their psyches mix, a complete fusion as she turns into a towering woman, twice the height of Agate. Immediately, Sugilite summons her whip and gauntlets, the same as her fusees weapons, but scaled up to her massive size.

She tosses the gauntlets in the air, and they lock around each other. Sugilite's whip cracks up through the air, grabbing onto a small handle, and completing the miniature transformation of the weapons from separate entities to a single, massive tool of destruction, a wrecking-ball sized… well, wrecking ball. That smashes into the bear's face, driving it back further.

Agate turns to me, and shouts… something. I can't read lips, and my deafness is still around, and likely not going away anytime... well, ever, probably. Unless if Rose were to do her thing, with the Healing Tears, but… I don't know. Whatever, not important. What's important is I get up, and I help. So why isn't my body doing more than shuddering?

"Come on," I growl to myself, my insecurities, lost in the midst of battle finding their way back into my head, "_get up, _grab the _sword_, and _help_ you… Useless!" I spit, as I hardly manage to raise my head without wincing. "Come on," I mutter, repeating it over and over to myself, like a mantra, almost believing that the willpower behind the words will be enough to wake me up, as I lose consciousness.

I try to gasp, my eyes shooting open, but there's no air. I flop forwards, my eye catching sight of the top of the Gem Bear's head, and the massive, yellow Gem I'm impaled on. The world is still silent, and my lips begin muttering something. I have no clue what it is, because I can't control any part of my body.

I feel blood, and the last ounces of my magic drip away out of the enormous hole in my torso. I lower my head, closing my eyes as my heart seizes up, and slows its beating, each beat feeling more pronounced in my veins, even though each has less blood than the last.

_Useless… Pathetic… Now… I'm dead…_

I cough up blood on the yellow tool of my destruction, which mingles with the blood dribbling down from my place of impalement. I feel something in the air. Is it death? No, it's too electrifying.

I feel my Gem pulse once in response, trying to absorb it, but in the same way water won't stay in a broken cup, magic won't stay in a broken body. It simply prolongs the inevitable.

The world shifts under me, and I'm tossed from my mobile perch on top of the bear. A hand bigger than me softly plucks me from the air, and sets me on the ground. I shudder a moment as I feel the pure magic under me, even though I can't hold onto much of it.

I'm gently placed on the ground, and one enormous deluge of water assaults me, getting everywhere. I open my eyes as the hole in my gut begins to close itself, and I move my eyes, the only things I can still control, and see a woman taller than the Gem Bear itself attacking it, handling it with ease. _But that's... that's all of them fused…! They could get _stuck_ like that, and…_

I shudder once more as the hole in my gut stops closing itself, hanging open, only a few inches in diameter. _So close… can't get saved correctly… can't even die right…_

_But… The Gems tried to save me anyway. They… they care, they did everything they could… They're even beating… the crap out of it now…_

I see the Gem Bear take a complete tree to the face. I feel its roar of pain, and taste the magic in the air that proclaims itself vastly superior to that of the Bear's. I smell victory for my friends, my mentors. I close my eyes as I feel the bear hit the ground, shattering the very ground below me. And I die with a smile on my face.

**AN: I was listening to a little bit of Natewantstobattle and Stuck in Your Radio while writing this, if anyone cares. They're both pretty good, in my experience. You should give 'em a try, tell 'em Monkey Typewriter sent ya'. They'll have no clue who yer' talkin' about. Also, there was quite a bit of Disney songs. Don't judge me, I know you listen to it too.**

**More importantly, yes, for all intents and purposes (NOT intensive purposes, that drives me INSANE) I have killed off the main character, Bloodstone. He is dead to the world. There is no blood in his body. Actually, I'm not 100% sure he would ****_leave_**** a body behind…**

**Also, honestly, having Stone (or Bloody, as one Reviewer/PM-er calls him) going deaf was a stroke of good fortune for me. I just thought of it as I was writing this chapter, and I'm very glad I did. I think it's an interesting idea. However, I'm fairly certain that people that are/have gone deaf are not immune to having their balance thrown off by sound. So, in my mind, they're simply… more resistant to it. Hence why the second ear-shattering (Heh, no pun intended, but one greatly appreciated) roar didn't burst his ear-drums again, but the one aimed at him did.**

**And, once more, super proud of having called the physical form of the Gem Bear's leg a 'Rock Wall.' I can just about guarantee, puns will always have a place in my writing. And the chapter name? Almost a pun. So very close.**

**Another thing really quick, I had to go back through and add more destruction in this battle. I mean, they're fighting a GIANT MONSTER. There's going to be _some_ damage to the forest around them.**

**And, I've rescinded my idea of keeping Rose 100% out of this Fic. I went with Agate because I like the color orange, and it's a cool color to have on one's forehead/stomach.**

**And while Rose's presence was brief and in a very limited way, without much information, it was still what I felt would happen, should they find out that he warped away. And I have an explanation as to why they took a while to show up, too, I didn't just say 'Cuz thet meks thuh STury bettr.' Because I think people that don't take simple logistics and logic into account whenever possible are jerks.**

**Also, I didn't name the Fusion Gem with all 4 of the Gem ladies, because I'm faithful that Rose will eventually 'come back to' life, because whenever they talk about her, they carefully avoid the definitive d-word (dead, for those of you with minds in the gutter,) and say she 'gave up her physical form.'**

**My theory is that she may be alive inside Steven's Gem, or some such thing, but I'm not sure. Whatever. The point is, I think she'll make a triumphant return, and they will eventually show (and give a name to) the fusion of all four Gem ladies. Hopefully. Or maybe there will be a flashback. I don't know.**

**On that note, I... wait, hold on! It's... It's SO BEAUTIFUL! It's... A SECOND REVIEW! AND IT'S a POSITIVE one! *Angel Choir Begins* Thank you, sir! *Wipes a tear from his eye* Thank you. *Sniffle* Seriously, though, thanks StoriesUnleashed!**

**Alright, on THAT note, I Wish You Good Luck, and Happy FanFic-ing!**

**Deviously Planning the Next Chapter, Monkey Typewriter**


	4. Possesion of Guilt

I open my eyes, and I'm immediately weirded out by what I see. A sky of uniform dark green, and a smooth, uniform ground of the same color, with splotches of blood red scattered about, as if they were enormous drops of spattered blood.

"So… is this my Gem?" I ask myself aloud. I'm surprised to hear the words echo about the place, loud and omnipresent. Even more, I'm shocked to hear _anything._ I guess my Gem won't acknowledge my near-deaf experience, even as it tries to repair me from my near-death one.

I touch the place where there should be a huge hole in my gut, smaller after Rose's power hit me with the healing magic, in the Gems' huge, fused form.

"Oh, man!" I immediately freak. The bigger the fusion, the more dangerous the being gets, true… but there's a reason that the Gems only fuse in dangerous situations. Two Gems are usually safe for a while when fusing, but the more Gems in a single fusion, the more dangerous it gets for the fusees.

If a Fusion Gem stays together for too long, it's possible for the two fused Gems to permanently stay combined, forever as one being, without forming another conscious thought ever again as a single being.

Basically, they'll get stuck fused together, and they won't be alive anymore. It'll just be that Fusion Gem.

And the danger grows the bigger the Fusions. They're safer than they would be had only three of them fused, because of Rose's stable personality, and the simple fact that the even fusions are more easily maintained. But another danger of the higher level fusions is the magical capacity.

When the Gems fuse, their magical power and strength aren't just added together; they're increased by a crazy amount, and the stronger they are, the harder it is to keep enough magic flowing. A Fusion of their size, even as stable as it would have been with Rose, couldn't have lasted more than an hour mixed as one, simply from the strain on their Gems. And while getting stuck only usually occurs after a few days mixed, running out of magic that fast would permanently damage their Gems, even after de-fusing.

_So why would they take such a huge risk?_ I shake my head. "I'm not worth it. Why would they risk so much for me? I'm not even there all the time."

Really, I'm not always with the Gems. I try to be there a lot, because they're pretty much the only people around who don't immediately think I'm insane, just from looking at my clothes, hair, and the rock embedded in my skin. But I do a lot of travelling. I can't go too far for too long, because while I'm way tougher than most humans, I'm also way weaker than the Gems in a fight, and I'm still in training, AND I need to go back at _least_ once a week to keep my magic supply above 50%, to make sure I don't… well, starve, for lack of a better word.

_Still though… they're the closest I have to a family. They don't even blame me for making Mom leave the Gems. They never talk about her, but… I don't know, they raised me, and taught me to fight._ I sigh. "You don't know what you've got until you're gone, I guess."

* * *

><p><em>One Month Later, The Year 1999<em>

Once again, I'm wondering why my Gem hasn't spit me back out into the world again, with a brand-spanking-new body. But, it seems, while my Gem has the 'Retreat into Gem' part of regeneration down, it's still missing the whole… 'Regeneration' part.

Amethyst, who has regenerated her fair share of times, described the times as the most boring, most peaceful snoozes of her long life. For me, it's more of an always-awake nightmare of absolute boredom. I've tried going to sleep, and the closest I can get is a semi-meditative state where I just go blank for a while. I'm never unconscious though, I could hear, if there was anything to hear, and I've done it with my eyes open, watching the land.

I can, however, more accurately gauge how much magic is in my Gem after a while of meditating. Right now, I'm somewhere near 15%, My Gem having started at maybe twenty or so, max, when I retreated into my Gem, but it was probably closer to 16%, if I'm being honest. My Gem's magic could probably last me a long time, especially if I stay inactive in here.

I guess either I don't have enough magic, or my Gem just doesn't have the right design to be doing this right. Once again, I have Mom to thank for my magical short-comings. I glare at the ground, angry at myself just as much as with her. My focus shifts a moment later, though, as something pretty weird happens.

My eyes widen as I notice a new blotch of red forming in front of me. In all the time I'd spent in my Gem, I've only noticed them gradually getting smaller. I didn't have my Gem on my palm anymore, and gone with it was the need for food or magic. I guess that was because of the fact that my Gem was all _around_ me, rather than on me, but I still feel sort of… naked, without it.

But new blotches were appearing everywhere, and I gasp as I see everything appear in front of me for a moment. Gone are the fields of green and black, and a smile comes to my face as I see what's in their place. I'm in the Temple!

Garnet told me about this room before, this is where the bubbled Gems go! There's the lava pit, for anything magical that can't be contained permanently, and is of a malicious nature, and all around, the former Gem Beasts that the Crystal Gems have been trying to contain for years.

"This is amazing!" I shout, raising my hands to my eyes, intent on touching my face to see if this is real, or another of my boredom-induced hallucinations.

But something's wrong. My hands are pink. With horror, I notice my hands. They're not _my_ hands. They're pink, tinged redder than I remember them, with my Gem set deeper into the right palm than it ever was in mine. They're _Rose's_ hands. I… I feel her in the back of my mind… _her_ mind… this is so wrong…

I feel like vomiting, falling to my knees and retching. But, seeing as Rose rarely eats anything, only doing so with her few human friends, I simply dry heaved bile onto Rose's white dress.

_I'm… I'm stealing her body… What if this is like a bad fusion? What if it's permanent!? I… I wouldn't be able to live with myself, I…_

I raise my head, seeing the pink curls, also redder than I remember bouncing as I notice Garnet. In the reflection of her futuristic sunglasses, I see Rose's face, a dark-looking mask of pain and discomfort, her eyes glowing with a magical red blaze. I feel the buzz of magic in the air, heavy and oppressive, and I screech in time with Rose's scream in the back of my… her… _our_ head.

I look at my Gem, causing us so much pain right now, filling the whole magical body of Rose's into upheaval as we glow, our form slowly shifting to match my own former shape.

"NO!" I scream. "GARNET, HELP HER!" My voice shoots from Rose's mouth, and immediately, Garnet springs into action, immediately summoning her gauntlets, and trying to pull the Bloodstone in Rose's palm away. I see my own face in Garnet's visor now, Rose's gone, the only remnants of her the long, pink hair.

"PEARL, CUT IT OFF!" I beg, the familiar Bloodstone Blade that is my weapon appearing in the air. Pearl catches it with ease, but hesitates as she raises it to a ready stance. Garnet steps back, and Pearl rose the blade up, to cut off Rose's hand, and hopefully save her. I feel her disappearing into her Gem, and I'm afraid it might be permanent.

"I… I can't!" Pearl sobs, tears in her eyes as she lowers my sword, the tip hitting the ground with a soft clang that reverberates through the large, dark, cave-like room, the only sources of light aside from my own brilliant red eyes the glow from the lava pit, and the small level of light coming from high above, the many twinkling bubbles surrounding a bigger light-source just out of my sight.

"I can," Amethyst says, a rare tone of seriousness appearing in her voice as she jerks the sword from Pearl's hands, and clumsily slashes down at my right hand, just as I feel the last of Rose beginning to retreat into her Gem.

It feels like I'm stretched and released, like a rubber band springing back into shape in the world of my Gem, and I find myself on my side, shivering in fetal position. _I almost killed Rose... I _might_ have killed Rose…!_

_I really am a parasite… stealing someone's body, I…_ I gaze at the almost fully red landscape around me. It looks like my Gem absorbed a lot of energy from Rose. If that is what's sustaining me, and I need this magic to survive, my imprisonment before I die just got way longer. _I deserve this,_ I convince myself. _If I'm so dangerous that I could steal someone's body just by being there, I… Oh man… I should get thrown into the Lava Pit, no doubt._

* * *

><p><em>15 Years Later, The Year 2014…<em>

I stare down at the last of the red, mere dots on the landscape. _Almost done… so very close to being gone. I wonder… how will it feel to just… cease?_

I shake my head. I don't have the slightest clue how long I've been in here, and I'm not sure that I want to know. I just know that I haven't done much of anything but wallow in self-pity, self-hatred, and some self-centered-rambling. There has been time for reflection on the basic workings of my Gem versus Real Gems, but that just resulted in more self-pity, loathing, and the like.

"Well," I say moodily, thinking of how Rose may have died because of me. "I deserve this. I'm just a dangerous parasite. The world is better off without me." I mope, burying the tears in my eyes in my knees, the dark green fabric of my jeans absorbing them.

"You don't get to cry," I scold myself, my voice cracking even as more tears stain my jeans. "This is your own fault," I say, for the first time in so long, thinking of how I got myself into this… idiotic mess.

"Rather than wait, to listen to your elders, you betrayed the Gems' trust, got yourself killed, and forced them all to fuse. It's lucky they won and defused, but still, they could have gotten seriously hurt from that. You put everyone you care about at risk, and all you've got to show for it is a gravestone, if the Gems even still care enough to make you one."

I shake my head. "This… sucks so bad," I cry, wiping at my nose with the back of my right hand, which feels too light without my Gem, still awkward without it after all this time. "I don't care that I deserve it anymore, I don't want to die…" I trail off, trying to keep sobs from wracking my body.

Where was this emotion, this healthy fear in the heat of battle? Why didn't I just run, quit when I saw the damn monster? Why did I push myself to be something I never had any hope of being?

My crying slows, then stops as I feel the magic around me suddenly plummet. I look down at the ground, only one prick of light remaining. "This… This is it," I sniffle, absolute fear of what is to come, and an even greater fear, that maybe there _isn't_ anything next, filled me from top to toes, and I shiver.

The small droplet of magic in the dry ocean is almost gone, evaporated into nothing, and I squeeze my eyes shut. _This is it… the end, I'm sure of it…_

The world flashes red around me, and I feel the elastic sensation in my gut again, and immediately, my eyes are open, and I have no control of anything. I just see a small, slightly pudgy hand shaking in front of my eyes, my red and green Gem easily distinguished from his skin growing redder and redder with a glow, and I hear a kid's yell.

"AAAAGGHHHH! GET IT OFF!"

_NO!_ I think in horror, ignoring the boy. _Somebody else… I'm going to hurt someone else… Why couldn't I just die? It would be easier, and nobody else would get hurt._

A moment later, I notice that the boy's hand has frozen in front of his face. _I wonder… do I have control already?_ Even as guilt swells inside of me, for the pain I'm no doubt causing the boy, and for the other feeling in my gut, I feel some excitement bubbling to the surface. I'm back in the real world. _No, this body isn't yours! You need to disconnect now!_

I try to move, to pull the Gem containing my mind from his hand, but to my surprise, the hand only feebly grips the Gem, and tugs ever so slightly, before the body I'm in shivers. "Weird," the boy says, shaking out his hands. "I felt all cold for a second there. And everything looks all red now. Huh." The body walks without any input from me, and I'm amazed again as the boy looks at my Gem. "Wonder what this thing does?"

_This 'THING,'_ I scream in my mind, even as the red fades from his vision, and he cups his hand into a fist around my Gem, _is dangerous! I'll take your body, and it might not be reversible! Ask the Gems if you can get it off!_

Suddenly, though, my connection to his mind is broken, and I'm back in my Gem, watching as glowing pools of red grow, once again erasing the green on the floor, like they did with Rose. "Oh man," I mumble, running a hand through my hair. "How do I save this kid?"

* * *

><p><strong>The AN will be short. Yes, it was a bit of a double-fake-out with his death. 'Oh he's dead! Wait, no he isn't! Yes, he really will be, but no!' Or, maybe that's a triple? Yeah, a triple fake-out.<strong>

**Honestly, I don't know how I'm cranking out chapters so fast for this. Let me know if there ever seems to be a drop in quality, though, and I'll slow down to be sure I do okay. All I can say, though, is this rate likely won't last, seeing as the long weekend is over, and I'm doing a lot of reading in the coming weeks for English class, as well as other fun times in other classes. So, yay for that.**

**Another thing… I'm supposed to be prioritizing my Harry Potter Fic which isn't up, so I'll be trying to refocus on that, which MAY mean no chapters for a while. I'm only one man, gimme a break. One tired, tired man.**

**And another thing, YAY, BLOODSTONE ISN'T DEAD! He's one of my favorite characters that I made in a while, and I'm sorta proud of how he seems to be flawed, yet interesting, (according to a few reviews, anyway.) But, enough patting myself on the back. Let us commence with the rating and reviewing, as it only improves my quality, yes? *Twirls Moustache Deviously* And by the way, more reviews means more excitement/willingness to write on my part! *Evil Laugh.***

**Well, I'm done for the day. Good Luck, and Happy FanFic-ing!**

**Monkey Typewriter**


End file.
